Nan Chen shot Qin Lan a look.
He meant for her to ask what film the mother stars in and which film crew she works in.
As smart as Qin Lan may be, that expression was too complicated for her to understand.
She misinterpreted it as “It’s best if the mother would be able to come instead, as this would make communicating easier.”
Nan Chen felt that her interpretation was fine as well, as it would be ideal if he could see their mother in person anyway.
But Cheng Xiangyun’s answer was still uncertain, “The child’s mother is really busy. I will try my best to get her to spare some time.”
“Alright, that’ll be all for now, goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Dr. Qin.”
Qin Lan hung up the phone, and eyed Nan Chen’s cold face suspiciously.
Nan Chen could see that Qin Lan had questions for him, but he didn’t say a word. Instead, he just glanced back at her and waited for her to ask away.
“Are you interested in the children or the mother?”
Nan Chen crossed his fingers in front of his chest, as he asked himself the same thing.
“Have you really never laid hands on a single woman in all these years?” Qin Lan asked again.
Nan Chen remained silent and just gave Qin Lan a look that said, “Need you even ask? Of course I haven’t.”
“But that actress is going around calling you her fiancéé. Why do you allow her to do that?” Qin Lan asked.
That was because he could stop a lot of suitors by using Luo Fei. Besides, she’s working in an entertainment company sponsored by Nanshi Corporation, so the company would profit from her fame as well.
But Nan Chen found it too troublesome to explain, so he just shook his head.
Qin Lan knew about this habit of his. He never used lengthy explanations as he never had to.
With a position like his, he never needed a reason for doing something. Similarly, he wouldn’t need one for not doing something either.
So, why would he need to explain himself if he didn’t need a reason to do it?
“Alright. Since you have never laid your hands on any woman, that child isn’t yours then?”
Nan Chen nodded.
“I was a little worried for you at first. If you really abandoned someone after having a child with them, the mother would become a victim. If they find you, they’ll treat you like their cash cow and milk you dry. Of course, money may just be a number to you, so you don’t really care about it. However, it would become a huge problem if it affects the reputation of the Nan family.”
Nan Chen just listened to Qin Lan’s analysis in silence.
“Alright, you keep interacting with that woman. If you find that she interests you, sleep with her, and this might just be able to cure you.”
Qin Lan stood up and prepared to end the therapy session.
But Nan Chen didn’t move. He raised his head and asked Qin Lan, “Time?”
“The time for the session next week? You’re the busy one, so of course you’ll be the one to decide on it. We’ll arrange it based on your schedule, so you just have to inform me of the time in advance.”
“Child.” Nan Chen said.
Qin Lan realized that he was asking about when the two children would be coming over tomorrow.
“Oh, we didn’t agree on an exact time. It should be in the morning, I guess? You seem to really care about them. Are you coming to see them in person?”
Nan Chen nodded.
Qin Lan was amused at the sight of him nodding like Dabao.
“In that case, I’ll inform you once we confirm the exact time of the appointment. You might scare the children if you showed up suddenly, looking exactly like them.”
Nan Chen frowned. He had never thought about this before.
“How about this? When they arrive, I’ll tell them that there is a man who looks just like them, and ask if they want to meet him. If they say yes, then you can come in. What do you think of this arrangement?”
Nan Chen nodded once more, and Qin Lan felt as if Dabao was right in front of her, but she knew that was impossible.
……
Because the filming ended really late, it was already 12 o’clock by the time Ning Ran got home.
She was very tired and felt like she was falling apart.
Both children were asleep. Ning Ran took a shower and went to the kitchen to get something to eat.
Cheng Xiangyun heard the noise and rushed to the kitchen, “You’re not seriously going to eat at this hour, are you?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Didn’t you already have a bento on set?”
“That was at 6pm. It’s almost 1am now, how could I not be hungry? I have to eat something.”
“You can’t. You’ll get fat if you eat now.” Cheng Xiangyun stopped Ning Ran.
“It’s fine, I’m not fat anyway.”
“You aren’t fat NOW, but you WILL BE if you don’t control your diet. With all that screen time from the extra scenes the director gave you, you’re practically the female lead now. You should seize this great opportunity to make your first film since your return to China a huge hit! That way, you will have a bright future ahead, and I’d become the best manager as well!” Cheng Xiangyun said.
“Why do I get this feeling that only the last sentence is the most important one?” Ning Ran said.
“What are you talking about? Like communities of interest, we benefit from each other. I’m doing this for your own good as well as my own!”
“At least let me have a slice of bread, please? I promise I won’t go overweight, alright?” Ning Ran begged.
“No, you can only have half a cucumber. Absolutely no touching the bread!”
Ning Ran wailed, “But then I will be too hungry to sleep! I’m really hungry… I don’t want to live anymore!”
“If you’re not planning on living, then you might as well just starve yourself to death. Eating is just a waste of food for a dying person anyway.”
“Fine, I’ll just have half a cucumber then… What a miserable life I have…”
Cheng Xiangyun only left the kitchen when she saw that Ning Ran had given up.
She waited in the living room for quite a while, but Ning Ran still hadn’t come out of the kitchen.
Cheng Xiangyun realized that she had been tricked, and ran back into the kitchen. There, she saw Ning Ran with yogurt in one hand and bread in the other as she wolfed it down hungrily.
When she saw Cheng Xiangyun coming in, Ning Ran quickly shoved the last chunk of bread into her mouth, and smiled triumphantly at her like a greedy child.
Cheng Xiangyun glared at her, “Jeez, look at yourself! I heard that the male lead of our crew is a huge star, and would be arriving on set in two days. You need to watch your figure to leave a good impression on him. With his help, you could boost your popularity!”
“A huge star? Who is he?”
“I’m not too sure myself. The original actor for the role had been rejected as he stalled for too long, so the film crew has been looking for a new replacement. I heard they managed to sign up a new superstar recently. Everyone’s looking forward to it in hopes of using him to boost their popularity.”
Ning Ran sneered, “I don’t need others to help me get popular. I rely on my own capabilities.”
“You wouldn’t even be able to either, since he’ll mainly be paired up with Luo Fei anyway.”
Ning Ran became interested when she heard this.
“If that’s the case, then I might just make a move too. If I do succeed, Luo Fei would surely be so mad! That’d be so much fun!”
“That’d be difficult, as Luo Fei is well-known to be a master at that. She befriends whoever’s popular and goes around sharing pictures of them eating out together, calling them her friends. They may have only had one meal together for all we know.”
Ning Ran chuckled, “I’m already looking forward to that superstar’s arrival.”
